A full survey of the European annual species of Bupleurum is presented, including a key, descriptions, illustrations, maps and specimen lists covering the distribution within Europe. The following species are treated: B. aequiradiatum, B. affine, B. aira, B. apiculatum, B. asperuloides, B. baldense, B. brachiatum, B. capillare, B. commutatum, B. croceum, B. euboeum, B. flavicans, B. flavum, B. gaudianum, B. gerardi, B. glumaceum, B. gracile, B. greuteri, B. gussonei, B. karglii, B. lancifolium, B. marschallianum, B. odontites, B. pachnospermum, B. praealtum, B. rollii, B. rotundifolium, B. semicompositum, B. subovatum, B. tenuissimum, B. trichopodum, B. Veronense, B. virgatum. The new combinations B. gussonei and B. aequiradiatum are validated.

Vulpia membranacea is more widespread than supposed before. Specimens from W Germany, N Greece, S Macedonia, Israel, the Balearic and Canary Islands, considerably extending the total range of the species, are listed and dot-mapped here for the first time. Stomata measurements in the newly investigated material partly disaccord with the previously reported correlation of stomata size and chromosome numbers of 2n = 14 and 2n = 28, questioning the ploidy level as a differentiating character of the closely related species V. membranacea and V. fasciculata. Unusual lemma scabrosity in specimens from the Canary Islands is documented by REM photographs.

Verbascum ×sibyllinum, the hybrid of V. longifolium and V. thapsus, is described from Monti Sibillini, Central Italy, and illustrated.

Continuing a series of miscellaneous contributions, by various authors, where hitherto unpublished data relevant to the Med-Checklist project are presented, this instalment deals with the families Berberidaceae, Boraginaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Compositae, Convolvulaceae, Crassulaceae, Cruciferae, Droseraceae, Elatinaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Juglandaceae, Labiatae, Leguminosae, Scrophulariaceae, Solanaceae, Umbelliferae, Valerianaceae; Cyperaceae, Hydrocha ritaceae, Gramineae, Pontederiaceae, and Potamogetonaceae. It includes new country and area records, taxonomic and distributional considerations. A new combination is validated in Gymnospermium.

An annotated floristic catalogue is provided for the islands Chrisi (Gaidouronisi), Koufonisi and the nearby islets Mikronisi, Strongili, Makrouli and Trachilos, all off SE Kriti. Critical use is made of literature data, and hitherto unpublished records, mostly from 1997 through 2000, add substantially to the first full vascular plant inventory of the islands. The total numbers of vascular plant taxa currently known from each island are as follows (accepted taxon records from literature, if extant, in brackets): Chrisi 275 (162), Mikronisi 71 (21), Koufonisi 273 (71), Strongili 110, Makrouli 115, Trachilos 96. Most noteworthy are Suaeda palaestina and Ononis vaginalis (currently with their single localities in Europe); Allium brachyspathum, Astragalus boeticus, A. peregrinus, Galium recurvum, Hippocrepis unisiliquosa, Lagurus ovatus subsp. nanus, Ononis diffusa, Orobanche grisebachii, Schoenoplectus litoralis (new records or confirmations for the Cretan area as a whole, or for the territory of Kriti proper including offshore islands); and Chlamydophora tridentata, Frankenia corymbosa and Hymenolobus procumbens (new regional records for the E part of Kriti and its offshore islands). The N African, pronouncedly thermophilous phytogeographical element is fairly well represented in the investigated area, thence Koufonisi in particular must be considered the driest and hottest SE European island. The principal habitats encountered in each of the islands are outlined and the present conditions for nature conservation discussed.

Based on the observation of male cones in plants of old stock of Welwitschia mirabilis cultivated in the Botanic Garden Berlin-Dahlem and documented in the garden herbarium, two groups can be distinguished. Plants of “group 1” are characterized by short peduncles and long, purplish brown male cones with widely overlapping bracts. Plants of “group 2” are regularly flowering about three weeks later and have usually longer peduncles but shorter male cones which are glaucous-green to salmon coloured and more “sculptured” due to different bract shape and less overlapping bracts. Tracking the incompletely documented origin of these accessions revealed that some of the over 50 years old plants were grown from seeds received from Coimbra originating from Angola and others from seeds received from Kirstenbosch originating from Namibia. Published illustrations of male cones provided only limited further evidence on cone characters. Examination of herbarium specimens of known origin showed that male cone characters fully agreeing with those of group 1 occur in material from Angola, whereas cone characters of plants of group 2 are typical for specimens from Namibia, particularly from the Swakop area. The differences suggest the existence of two subspecies. The controversial nomenclature of W. bainesii and the reasons for avoiding this epithet for the subspecies are briefly discussed. Instead the new combination W. mirabilis subsp. namibiana is validated. A lectotype is designated for the binomial W. mirabilis. As a further result, a total of three male cones with bracts arranged in verticils of three, instead of the regular two, were found among more than 3000 cones screened. One was found on a plant of group 1 grown at Berlin-Dahlem, one in a sample originally received from J. D. Hooker probably of Angolan origin, and one in a herbarium specimen from Namibia.

Continuing a series of miscellaneous contributions by various authors, this second instalment includes data on 174 vascular plant taxa of Cyprus, concerning mainly chorological aspects. Setaria adhaerens var. fontqueri and Saccharum strictum are new records for the island. Chromosome numbers are given for Glaucosciadium cordifolium (2n = 18, first count for this species), Nigella nigellastrum (2n = 12) and Valantia hispida (2n = 18). New taxonomic considerations result in the new combinations Scutellaria cypria subsp. elatior and Valantia hispida var. eburnea.

Chromosome numbers (somatic and gametic) of 21 species of eight families of angiosperms, collected in the wild in Kuwait, are reported. Most of them are the first counts in Kuwaiti populations. Included are the first report for Anisosciadium lanatum (2n = 18) and new numbers for Aizoon hispanicum (2n = 18), Astragalus annularis (2n = 24) and Pallenis hierochuntica (2n = 12). The karyotypes of Astragalus annularis and A. spinosus are illustrated.

As part of the revision of the genus Citharexylum for the projects “Flora of the Cuban Republic” and “Flora of the Greater Antilles”, conspecificity of C. spinosum and plants assigned by many authors to a different species, misnamed “C. fruticosum” (an illegitimate name), is demonstrated. Infraspecific classification of C. spinosum is critically reconsidered, resulting in five new combinations, three of them at a new rank.

The forthcoming Polygalaceae treatment for the “Flora de la República de Cuba” will recognize four shrubby Polygala species instead of the eight that had been previously described. One of them is P. guantanamana, easily recognized by its glabrous pedicels. A broadly based revision permits to distinguish two subspecies in it. P. guantanamana subsp. guantanamana is found in coastal habitats of southeastern Cuba and in xeric vegetation, mostly on ophiolithic soils, in central and western Cuba. The newly described subsp. alternifolia grows in that same kind of inland habitats but is limited to eastern Cuba. P. scabridula, a characteristic morph which is limited to and prevalent but not exclusive in the central and western Cuban populations, is given varietal rank within subsp. guantanamana.

Life and work of August Schlickum (1867–1946), a high school teacher and amateur botanist at Cologne, is presented in some detail. Schlickum's Hieracium collection, which comprises c. 7100 specimens, including several types, as well as material from other collectors, was acquired in 1949 by the Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (B) and is now being incorporated into the general herbarium.